ITALERI 1:35 M1 155mm Howitzer • Kit No. 6581
The M1 155mm Howitzer was a towed medium artillery piece that first entered service with the US Army during WWII and later went on to see action in Korea and Vietnam before being replaced by the M198 Howitzer. Although it went out of US Army service, the M1 (designated the M114 after WWII) remarkably went on to serve in many other countries up until 2016. Firing NATO standard 155mm ammunition, it had a rate of fire of four shells per minute and a maximum range of 9 miles (14.6km).
Italeri have a habit of reissuing old kits and this one is no exception as originally it was tooled in 1972 by Max Plastic Model, also appearing under the Peerless/Max, Airfix and Testor labels as well as Italeri in 1980. Surprisingly for a kit of this vintage, the mould quality has stood up pretty well considering with only a little flash in place, however some parts have slight sink marks such as the trail legs with heavier sink marks on some of the smaller pieces plus mouldpin marks are present on some parts too.